Why Five New York Congressmen Voted Against Health-Care Reform

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Over the weekend, while you were out enjoying the fall foliage, your representatives in Congress were working overtime to pass a historic health-care-reform bill. Well, a bare majority of them were, anyway. After some painful compromise (hope you’re not planning on having any unplanned pregnancies), peer pressure from one very persuasive fellow, and even some crying, the House of Representatives passed its health-care bill by a 220–215 vote, with only one Republican, frequent GOP defector Anh Cao, voting in the majority. While most of the New York delegation provided their support, five congressmen voted no: Republicans Christopher Lee and Peter King, and Democrats Scott Murphy, Mike McMahon, and Eric Massa. Why’d they do it? They have theirreasons:

“At the highest level, this bill will enshrine in law the monopolistic powers of the private health insurance industry, period. There’s really no other way to look at it. I believe the private health insurance industry is part of theproblem.”

As for Peter King, we’re still waiting on word from his office, but on the “Health Care Reform” page of his website, King states: